AMIA#19 | A Message to Executives: The Rise of Fluid Teaming in Modern Software Development
Fluid Teaming: The Dynamic Shift Reshaping Software Development
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AMIA: #19
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In today’s email:
Today, you will learn about dynamic or fluid teaming as a response to challenges in software development to meet business objectives.
Introduction
The software development landscape has witnessed significant shifts over the years. From project-based thinking, where teams were formed around specific projects and disbanded upon completion, we moved to product-focused, long-lived teams.
This shift aimed to foster continuity, reduce knowledge loss, and align teams more closely with business goals.
However, this approach also introduced challenges, such as teams becoming siloed and the underutilisation of diverse skills across the organisation.
Enter fluid teaming—a dynamic approach that champions team autonomy and aligns directly with business objectives.
The Evolution from Project to Product
Historically, the project-based approach often led to inefficiencies and a lack of continuity.
The industry's pivot to product-centric, long-lived teams was a solution to these challenges.
However, while these teams developed deep expertise in their domains, they often found themselves restricted to their specific areas, limiting the broader application of their skills and experiences.
The Essence of Fluid Teaming
Fluid teaming is not just about team flexibility; it's about empowerment.
It separates the creation of business objectives from the execution of the work. Once an objective is set by the organisation, the individuals closest to the work autonomously form teams to address that objective.
This approach ensures that those with the most relevant skills and knowledge drive the execution.
As one objective is achieved, teams can dynamically restructure to tackle the next challenge, ensuring agility and alignment with business priorities.
Practical Scenarios of Fluid Teaming
Product Launch: A major product release can benefit from UX expertise, even if it's not a regular part of the team. Fluid teaming allows for such temporary integrations.
Cross-Functional Collaboration: Integrating software with hardware? Form a team that combines software developers, hardware engineers, and product managers.
Addressing Technical Debt: Over time, software accumulates technical debt. Fluid teaming can create a dedicated task force to address this.
Emerging Technology Integration: With technologies like AI and blockchain evolving rapidly, fluid teaming can quickly form a team of experts to integrate these innovations.
Benefits of Fluid Teaming
Diverse Skill Utilisation: Prevents skill stagnation and promotes continuous learning.
Increased Collaboration: Encourages knowledge sharing.
Enhanced Product Quality: Ensures the right skills are applied to challenges.
Cost and Effort Reduction: Reduces hiring costs and onboarding time.
Control Work-in-Progress: Allows executives to efficiently allocate resources and keep projects on track.
Employee Satisfaction: Increases job satisfaction through diverse projects and learning opportunities.
Challenges and Overcoming Them
While fluid teaming offers numerous benefits, it's not without challenges. These include maintaining team cohesion, ensuring knowledge transfer, and managing the increased complexity of dynamic teams.
However, real-world insights provide solutions:
Stability in Team Formation: Most teams, when given autonomy, remain largely unchanged. Only specific roles, like content writers or UX designers, tend to shift between teams.
Time-Boxed Objectives: Some organisations set time limits for objectives, allowing teams to focus intensively and then regroup and adapt as needed.
Company-Wide Dynamic Teaming: Companies like Tesla have experimented with aligning the entire organisation's focus towards a single objective, ensuring agility at all levels.
Conclusion
Fluid teaming is more than just a dynamic approach to team formation—it's a strategic alignment with business objectives.
By empowering those closest to the work to form teams autonomously, organisations can achieve better outcomes, reduce costs, and ensure optimal resource allocation.
However, its successful implementation requires understanding, adaptation, and a commitment to empowering individuals.
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